A Given Reason
by oursolemnhour49
Summary: "Why are you agreeing to train Lloyd?" Raine tries to discover why Kratos Aurion would agree to help her student become stronger, and the mercenary's response leaves her with more questions than answers. One-shot.


_I really should be updating my Kranna, but the next chapter's being difficult... so I wrote this drabble as an effort to give a jolt to my writing by trying something different. I've never written Raine before, so any thoughts on how she turned out would be appreciated (so please review...?)_

_Own nothing._

_**Edit 5-16-11:** For some reason FF is being stupid with this, so I'm re-posting to see if it shows up. To anyone who has me on Author Alert, I apologize that you're getting this twice. If it doesn't work this time around, I'll just delete it for good.  
_

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Raine swallowed as she ran her fingers along the binding of the book in her lap. The firelight gleamed on the leather cover, and she felt the familiar itch to open the book, scan the pages, analyze the text, and note her observations. But this was not the time for that. With an effort she lifted her hand from the book and ran her fingers through the sand. There was something eerie about the desert at night; there was dead silence save for the breathing of the sleeping children and the snapping of the fire.

She brushed her silver hair out of her face and studiously avoided looking at the mercenary who was sitting on the edge of the circle of firelight. But she knew that sooner or later she was going to have to break the silence. She had to speak with him; she had already decided that. Raising her head, she looked at the man. His back was towards the camp and he was staring out into the desert. The teacher could only see the side of his face, and she felt all of her doubts rising. When the priestess had told her that this man was coming on the journey , Raine had known that she had had no choice but to put up with him. But that did not mean she could not question him.

Taking a deep breath, she straightened up. "Kratos."

The man did not even turn to look at her. "You should be asleep; we'll have a long journey to the next seal."

Raine clenched her teeth. "I'll be fine," she answered evenly. "I wanted to ask you a question."

"Now?"

"Yes." She paused, but the mercenary did not seem inclined to respond, and she drew another breath. "Why are you agreeing to train Lloyd?"

That did get his attention. His head jerked sharply towards her, and she was hard-pressed to meet the dark eyes that glared at her from across the campfire. When he spoke, Raine would have described the note in his voice as defensive, if not for the fact that he had never given a trace of any emotion before. "He asked me to help him. What business is it of yours?"

"Lloyd is my student, so I take an interest when he says he wants to learn. And this… tutoring strikes me as odd for you." She felt a faint sense of relief. Now that the hardest thing to say was out, she could go on more easily. "You've done nothing of the kind for Colette, despite that she's the Chosen. You've made no effort to communicate with me, or with anyone, for that matter, whom we've dealt with in this first stage of Regeneration. So why do you take an interest in Lloyd?"

"There is no need for me to make an effort to get to know you or the Chosen beyond what I already have. You are my employers, and temporary ones at that." His gaze flickered over to Colette's sleeping form and Raine fought the urge to slap him. Colette would die at the end of this journey, and yet she still went on with a smile, knowing all the while that she would lose herself. And this man described her as a temporary employer.

She folded her arms and forced her thoughts back to the issue at hand. "So how is Lloyd different? Why did you agree to become his tutor?"

Kratos was silent, and Raine had the sense that she had touched on something deeply personal. His face was largely hidden by the lock of red hair that hung in his eyes, but she saw his tensed shoulders and clenched fist. She kept her gaze fixed on him. One way or another she was getting an answer. Lloyd was her student, and she would send this man away, mercenary or no, if she thought he would hurt the boy. "Answer me," she said very quietly.

The man raised his head, and Raine fought the urge to retreat from the look in those red-brown eyes. For a long moment the two stared at one another, the young woman knowing that this man wanted her to admit defeat, withdraw her question, and leave him to himself. Yet she would not do it. _I've survived worse than him,_ she told herself._ I've learned to get answers out of people; I do it for a living. I will get an answer from him, I will._

At last Kratos looked down. "He asked me to train him in fighting, but the boy needs more than that. His swordsmanship is unrefined and crude, yes, but his ignorance goes beyond that. The boy has no idea what he is fighting for."

"That's not true," Raine whispered sharply. "He wants to protect Colette, that's why he fights."

"And does he know what will happen to her at the end of this journey?"

Raine felt her hands trembling with fury. So the man knew after all. "Well?" Kratos asked. "Does he know?"

Wordlessly she shook her head. Kratos looked out over the desert again and his voice sounded curiously flat as he said, "He knows he needs to become stronger. I wish for him to do that so that the truth will not break him when the time comes."

"He's still a boy," she spat. " He knows that Colette's going to save the world, and that's all he needs to know. I don't want him to lose his innocence over this."

Kratos looked at her with contemptuous eyes. "Miss Sage, Lloyd lost his innocence when he saw his village burned before his eyes, and when he was banished for trying to help another."

Raine stared at him in disgust. "You don't even care."

"If I did not care, I would not have agreed to help him. He has already lost his innocence, but by some miracle has retained his pure heart. I do not wish him to lose that as well."

Raine looked away. Much as she hated to admit it, she knew that the man was right. Lloyd's innocence was gone, as the man had said, lost in the ashes of Iselia. There was no going back for the boy now; Lloyd was going to have to face the world on this journey as he had never faced it before. Yet for all that, Kratos' explanation still seemed thin to her. "What does it mean to you, though?" she asked. "Why do you care so much? You still haven't explained that."

"Nor will I. Suffice to say I have my reasons."

"Reasons," Raine whispered. "I want an answer, Kratos."

"I've given it."

"No, you haven't. Why does Lloyd's pure heart, as you put it, mean so much to you?"

The man glared at her for a long time. Raine could feel her heart racing, and wondered if she'd gone too far in trying to wring answers from him. At last the man answered, and his words were slow, as though he was forcing them out: "Miss Sage, not every reason has to be given for it to be sufficient." The mercenary's eyes glinted. "Not every question needs to be answered. But if you must know, I know how cruel this world can be, I know it far better than any of you. Lloyd's pure heart is something that I had thought completely lost from this world, and for that I will try to help him."

The young teacher stared at him. "And Colette isn't pure? Kratos, I appreciate what you're saying, I know Lloyd well- but I still don't understand what sets him apart."

"Do you have to know?" His voice was quiet, but Raine knew better than to mistake that quiet for calm; his voice was icy.

"No," she answered softly. "But Kratos, you have to understand that if I think you are a threat to Lloyd in any way, I will not let you stay with us."

The man stared into the flames with burning eyes. "I will not let him come to harm, I promise you that."

His voice had a ring of conviction, and an undercurrent of something that Raine, to her amazement, realized was sorrow. Abashed, she looked away and set her pack beside her to use as a pillow. "Make sure that you keep that promise."

Kratos said nothing, and Raine saw that his hand went to his neck. She caught a glimpse of a glittering chain in his fingers before she turned her eyes to the fire. The more she thought about the man's answers to her questions, the more confused she became. She was fairly certain that he had been honest when giving his reasons to help Lloyd, but those reasons only made the mercenary harder to comprehend. Raine would never have expected the man to unbend to the request of a teenage boy, especially a boy as reckless as her student. Indeed, she would not have expected a man like Kratos to be interested in the journey of Regeneration at all. He seemed like someone who lived only for his work, with no interest in the world around beyond how it affected him.

Yet Lloyd had seen something in the man that had made him ask the mercenary for help. Raine knew from experience that the teenager had a stubborn pride that was rare to bow to anyone. Yet he had gone to Kratos, the man he had derided, with a request for help with his weakness. It was strange for Lloyd to do anything of that kind; almost as strange as it was for Kratos to agree. Raine was already sure that the mercenary never did anything without a reason. And since they were on the journey itself, all she could do was hope that his reason was everything he had told her. After all, he had promised that he would not let Lloyd be hurt. The teacher kept that in mind as she fell asleep, and sent a prayer to Martel that Kratos would remain true to his word.

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_Any thoughts? The ending feels off to me... constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. _


End file.
